Conscience and the Catholic Voter

OCTOBER 25, 2008

As we approach election day, 2008, many are asking for guidance in making their decision to vote for one candidate or the other.  It is obviously not the Church’s role, nor is it mine, to say that Catholics must vote for one candidate or the other.  Each voter must consider seriously the issues at hand and the good of all in the process of discerning how to mark his or her ballot on November 4.
My position is in total agreement with the pastoral letter of our Bishops’ Conference, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.  To help you form your conscience, I will now quote extensively from a statement prepared by our Committee on Doctrine articulated by its president, the Most Reverend William E. Lori, in an article entitled Conscience and the Catholic Vote. 
“As this election year proceeds, politics bombards us from all sides…  That is why it is especially important for us to be informed about the issues which confront us in national, state, and local elections.

“Not everyone is an expert in law and government policy. But all of us have a duty to understand, as best we can, how the issues of the day pertain to the common good and to the human dignity of each person. To do so, we must focus our attention beyond narrow self interest or party affiliation. In other words, a well-formed conscience is “standard operating equipment” for participating well in the political process. This is the main point of the U.S. bishops’ document on political responsibility issued in November 2007, Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship. This statement is posted on the USCCB website (www.usccb.org) and we invite all to read and reflect on it.

“We’ve all heard the saying, “let your conscience be your guide.” This is true, as far as it goes. We are obliged to follow our conscience. Yet, as Faithful Citizenship makes clear, “conscience is not something that allows us to justify doing whatever we want, nor is it a mere ‘feeling’ about what we should or should not do” (no. 17). Instead, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches us, conscience is ‘a judgment of reason by which the human person recognizes the moral quality of a concrete act’ (CCC, no. 1796). The Church also reminds us that ‘man has in his heart a law inscribed by God.... His conscience is man’s most secret core, and his sanctuary.’ In short, the human conscience does not create right and wrong but rather perceives it. Conscience has to be properly formed.

“What forms the conscience? Is it mere opinion or preference? Is it civil law? Is it peer pressure or what’s advocated in the media? We can’t deny that these things influence our consciences to some extent. Yet what really forms our consciences is truth—above all, the truth about the human person of whom, by whom, and for whom governments exist and function. This kind of truth…requires us to confront a fundamental question so that we can deal adequately with the many important issues about which ‘we, the people’ must decide.

“That fundamental question is whether or not it is possible for us, as individual citizens and as a nation, to attain the truth about the human person. In our contemporary world…it is know-how and tangible results that seem to count most. Searching for ‘truth’ seems very abstract and far removed from the…world of politics. Yet, in the absence of shared truth and values, the views of prominent opinion leaders and trend setters dominate our society, often at the expense of the vulnerable. If no one has the truth, politics becomes a matter of who has the most power. Power politics devoid of truth—‘the dictatorship of relativism,’ in the words of Pope Benedict
XVI—cannot unify the nation or protect the common good. History offers us many examples of its failures. Truth has consequences, and so does its absence.

“And truth is available to people of faith and good will. It’s interesting that the Church, by holding fast to her doctrine, has become the great defender of human reason and its capacity for knowing truth. Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson recently wrote: ‘despite charges of dogmatism, the church is the main defender of reason in the modern world. It teaches the possibility that moral truth can be known through reflection and argument.’ The Church holds that, despite human weakness and sinfulness, the law of God is written on the human heart. It is possible for human beings to reason toward moral truth. Far from impeding this process, the light of faith helps to clarify moral reasoning. As Pope Benedict put it during his recent visit to the United States: ‘I am confident that the American people will find in their religious beliefs a precious source of insight and inspiration to pursue reasoned, responsible, and respectful dialogue in the effort to build a more humane and free society.’

“In this same address, Pope Benedict XVI also reminded us that ‘America’s quest for freedom has been guided by the conviction that the principles governing political and social life are intimately linked to a moral order based on the dominion of God the Creator.’ This conviction is at the heart of our democracy. It allows us to recognize the self-evident truth that all men and women are created equal. It also allows us to recognize that the source of our human rights is not the government but rather the Creator. The Declaration of Independence famously sketches these rights as ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’ In another time and context, the range of human freedom was summed up as freedom of speech and expression, freedom to worship God, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. At the heart of these declarations of freedom is the human person, created in the image of God and endowed with inviolable dignity. Morality—the moral order—protects and fosters human dignity. In turn, human freedom is given us so we may choose what is true and good.            

“The Church’s teaching on faith and morals sheds great light on the moral order established by the Creator. Thus Faithful Citizenship teaches that ‘Catholics have a serious and lifelong obligation to form their consciences in accord with human reason and the teaching of the Church’ (no. 17). To fulfill this obligation, one must have a desire to seek what is true and good, coupled with a willingness to study Scripture and the teachings of the Church from an authentic source, such as The Catechism of the Catholic Church. One must also acknowledge and accept the God given authority of what the Church believes and teaches. All of this aids the process of moral reasoning as we study the issues of the day, party platforms, proposed legislation, and government policy.

“Conscience is formed by truth as it is ascertained by reason enlightened by faith. Conscience then judges the moral quality of our actions. In the area of political responsibility, it judges what we as citizens do or fail to do to help create a more just and humane society. So while it is important for us to seek the truth for the sake of truth, in the political process we should be seeking the truth for the sake of protecting human dignity and the common good of all in society.
“Our consciences are aided in this task by the virtue of prudence…As we make moral decisions, this virtue helps us to analyze the possible courses of action open to us…and to choose the one that best corresponds to what is true and good. Prudence never takes the moral shortcut of condoning immoral measures on the pretext that they will bring about good results. We are obliged always to seek what is good in morally sound ways. We also need to draw upon the virtue of courage, so we may have the strength of character to act on the good choices we have made.”

I will continue this discussion and the practical application of these principles in next week’s article.

+Bishop Raymundo J. Peña

last updated 11-Jan-2010 8:22 sitemap